MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

"…Seriously?"

Though the words that left Mystia's mouth were the ones he was hoping to hear from her, Valyr still felt as if a part of it was unbelievable to hear.

After all, thanks to Ataraxia inquiring while he was in the Meltierre Killing Grounds in the past, he knew that the highest level he could face as an opponent would be that at the peak of Rank 6.

Yet, even though the only separating a peak Rank 6 being from a Rank 7 one was a single level, the young man felt as if the latter was hundreds, if not thousands of times harder to find than the former.

Then again, with the level of strength Rank 7 beings controlled, it would not be far-fetched to say that such a level of strength was more than enough for one to move unhindered throughout Veldanyr.

With that being said, he had no plans to fight against any of those that had already made significant progress within that rank.

To him, as long as the being he would eventually fight met the minimum requirements needed to be classified as a Rank 7 being by the system, that was enough.

'What's with the request all of a sudden?' While Valyr still had an expression of slight shock from Mystia's words, his other self took the opportunity to ask more about his sudden request through their connection.

'Are you planning to upgrade [Slayer of Ascendants] or something?' the latter asked, recalling that the title had such a requirement.

'At some point,' replied Valyr after giving a bit of thought, only to inwardly shake his head soon after. 'But in the current context, that's not why I made the request.'

'What's it for, then?'

The young man gave his other self a slight smile. 'Think about our current level for a second.'

'Wait…' Of course, with the former giving him such an obvious hint, it did not take long for Ataraxia to understand what he was trying to do. '[Apex Hunter]?'

'What else could it possibly be?' Valyr nodded in confirmation, his chuckle briefly echoing in the latter's mind. 'With the skills we've obtained from our ascension, you're practically guaranteed to get it.'

While the two continued to discuss the reason behind the sudden request a bit more, Mystia gave Valyr's response a bit of thought before responding once more.

"Though I say it may take a lot of time, the possibility of it also depends on the kind of Rank 7 being you want to fight," she said, looking at the young man with a serious expression.

Valyr nodded at that. "Let's say I would like to fight a being that had just recently entered Rank 7. Would it be possible?"

"If that's your requirement, then making it happen wouldn't be a problem." Mystia nodded after giving the question a bit of thought. "Why do you want to fight against a being like that anyway?"

Hearing those words, both Valyr and Ataraxia looked at each other for a bit in silence, wondering to themselves if they should tell her the actual reason or not.

Surprisingly, it did not take long for the two to come to an agreement, recalling how much aid they've received from her already.

"…Have you noticed how those with lower levels deal less damage to those with higher levels, Miss Mystia?" said Valyr, responding to her question with a question of his own.

"Yeah?" The woman in question faintly nodded, her eyebrow raised in curiosity. "It's because of the difference in stats, no?"

"There's that, yes." The young man agreed with her. "However, I'm talking about how those with a lower level eventually deal no damage to their opponent once the level disparity is large enough."

"…Ah." At those words, Mystia finally understood what Valyr was hinting at, slightly surprised that the latter already had knowledge in that area. "You're talking about the Damage Restriction System."

"…But what does that have to do with fighting against a Rank 7 being?" she asked soon after, which prompted the young man to widely smile at her in response..

"What if I told you… there was a title that made that same system… less effective?"

"…?!"

Whoosh!

Just as those words left Valyr's mouth, the former showed no hesitation in closing the gap between them, staring at the young man with possessiveness so tangible the latter began to feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Thankfully, that feeling quickly disappeared, instead being replaced with anticipation, curiosity, and slight greed as her expression became somewhat serious.

"I won't ask you to elaborate any further," said Mystia as she took a brief moment to compose herself. "All I ask in exchange is to watch your fight against the Rank 7 being when the time comes."

"Alright." Although the condition she gave him was quite simple at first glance, Valyr knew that the reason behind it was far more complex than that.

Yet, even though he knew why she set that kind of condition, the young man still did not hesitate to agree.

After all, continuing his previous line of thought, doing so was an easy way to repay their gratitude to her. It was the least they could do in exchange for the great amount of help she's given them.

Aside from that…

'…Sometimes, I wonder if we're truly the same person,' said Ataraxia through [Soul Connection] all of a sudden, his voice echoing within Valyr's mind.

The latter raised his eyebrow in curiosity. 'What makes you say that?'

'Are you gonna tell her it's impossible to obtain the title while she's still in Veldanyr?' asked Ataraxia, his mind still going through the initial train of thought his other self had.

'I'm pretty sure she's already figured that part out,' answered Valyr with a slight shrug. 'Of course, I still plan on telling her when the time comes. With how you've gone through my train of thought, I'm sure you already know that.'

'…Why not now, though?'

'…Let's just say doing so would be to our advantage,' said Valyr in response with a knowing smile on his face, only to send over a series of thoughts to his other self soon after.

Going through the series of thoughts the moment he received them, Ataraxia's eyes soon widened in realization, looking at his other self with slight shock as he quickly understood why Valyr did what he did.

'…Forget what I just said earlier.' By the time he was done, the young man let out a low sigh as he looked at his other self with newfound understanding. 'To think you've thought of it to that extent…'

Remaining silent after that, Ataraxia gave Valyr a calm look.

'Since you say it's to our advantage…'

'…Let's keep it that way for now, then.'

The latter only smiled in response.